Brimstone Blues

Chapter Twelve

After Taz’s nap they ate an early dinner, then returned to their cabin. Exhaustion had finally caught up with Taz. With Matthias there to look after her, all she wanted to do was rest and talk.

“What, exactly, is the Tribunal?”

“Over the centuries, the different Clans decided they needed a governing body to keep the peace and settle disputes. For our united survival, if nothing else. We couldn’t have it getting out that what we are is real, not legend. Leaders from the different Clans formed a partnership of sorts, sharing information and meting out justice as appropriate. Over the years it became a quasi-judicial board. Obviously no written records, but no member of the Clans would dare cross them. Especially not now in modern times, when our existence is jeopardized more than ever.”

“Rafe mentioned the Tribunal follows up on people who are marked.” It still creeped her out that there were some people who willingly wanted to enslave themselves to someone else, regardless of the reasoning. That wasn’t a consensual BDSM relationship where one could just walk away and the other could go on with their lives. Someone marked would, literally, die if the one who marked them died or chose to move on and mark another.

Matthias nodded. “It would be too easy for an unscrupulous, stronger vampire to take advantage of humans and weaker hybrids. We vigorously pursued and eliminated rogues because their selfish narcissism put us all at risk. While I’ll be the first to admit there are those I’m not fond of amongst the Clans, they know it’s far safer to abide by Tribunal rules than to risk bringing the weight of it down upon them.”

“You told me you were the oldest in the States.”

“I am.”

“What about your grandfather?”

“He doesn’t call the States home. He’s a bit of a wanderer. He technically affiliates himself with the Western European Clan, and he has a home outside of Paris, but he doesn’t permanently live here. When he is here, he stays with me if he’s not busy gadding about.”

“It’s going to take some getting used to, that I’ve gained an eight-hundred-year-old grandfather.”

Matthias smiled. “You’ll like him, never fear. And he’ll love you.”

She decided to switch to a slightly less depressing topic. “So how does a vampire know what to do?”

“I don’t understand the question.”

“I mean, how did you figure out what you can and can’t do?”

“My grandfather told me a lot, and then others, as I grew older and made contact with members of the Clan.”

She was frustrated, not getting the answer she wanted. “But where’s the instruction manual? The Vampires for Dummies book?”

He laughed. “There is no such thing, Taz.”

“Then how do new vampires know?”

“Before, early on, parents would know to instruct their child depending on their powers. Remember, there are far fewer of us now than there ever were before. We can’t risk records like that.”

“You said yourself no one believes in them, except Hollywood and crazy people.”

“Not entirely. I also told you if the government became aware of us, of what we are, they might try to use us.”

“What about now?”

“That’s why we keep track. The Clans keep tabs on those who might be of the line. When someone shows the propensity, they are approached.”

“Yeah, because that worked sooo well with me.”

“I have apologized for that Taz, I don’t know what you want me to do.”

She sighed. “I’m sorry.”

He hugged her. “It’ll get better. I promise.”

“Can’t get too much worse.” She fell quiet for a few minutes. “Matthias, when is your birthday?”

“May eighteenth.”

“What year?”

“Every year.”

She looked at him, laughed, and playfully shoved him.

“Hey, you shouldn’t pick on a man whose birthday falls on the same day Mount St. Helens exploded.”

“No?”

“You should have heard the jokes.”

Taz smiled, certain Albert had come up with a few doozies. She gave Matthias credit, he hadn’t mentioned leaving Yellowstone once. Curled against him, breathing in his scent, she closed her eyes. “Can we leave tomorrow?”

He kissed the top of her head. “If that’s what you want.”

Taz took a deep breath. “After breakfast. Let’s get all the bullshit behind us. Get the London stuff over and done with.”

He propped himself up on one elbow. “Taz, we can hold off on that. They will wait until you’re ready.”

“That’s just it. If you give me an out, I’ll never be ready, never want to do it. Running isn’t going to solve this. Let’s get it over with.”

He kissed her. “All right, sweetheart.”

“I have to get the oil changed in the Mustang,” she said at breakfast after they’d packed and checked out. “It’s overdue from the drive out.”

“There’s a garage at Fishing Bridge. I’ll call when we’re done, see if they can do it this morning. If not, I’m sure we can find a place in Cody.”

Taz started to nod when she felt a rumbling in her brain and had to bite back a snarky comment.

What the hell is wrong with me?

Matthias frowned. “What’s wrong, Taz?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I just got this weird feeling when we were talking about the oil change—”

“NO!”

Her eyes darted around the restaurant. “Did you hear that?”

Matthias’ eyes narrowed. “Hear what?”

She looked around and shook her head. “I’m just jumpy.” She forced a smile. “I’m going to say something you won’t hear me say very often, big guy.”

“What’s that?”

She reached across the table and touched his hand. “You all warned me a couple of weeks ago, before we came out here, that I wouldn’t feel like myself.”

He nodded.

She took a deep breath. “You. Were. Right.”

He laughed and squeezed her hand. “Cara, thank you, love.”

“No, ‘See, I told you so?’”

He crooked his finger, and her heart melted as she leaned across the table. He kissed her. “It doesn’t matter as long as I have you to love. My reason for living is to make you happy. You’re the first thing I’ve had to live for in a long, long time.”

The jumpy, edgy feeling didn’t abate. In fact, it worsened the closer they drove toward Fishing Bridge. Thank goodness Matthias was behind the wheel. Taz had a feeling if it was her, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from turning around.

He let her out at the gift shop complex and she forced herself to sit on a bench in front on the porch and not chase after him.

“No! NO NO NONONONO!”

What the hell was wrong with her? The constant, worrying drumming in her brain would drive her nuts if it didn’t stop soon. It was like the phantom voice had gone as psycho as she’d felt a few weeks ago. It was an oil change, and yet she felt like someone was going to get murdered.

Matthias walked up five minutes later, looking concerned.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “You don’t look good.”

“I don’t feel good.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to call the jet? We can be in Gardiner in a little over an hour.”

“No, I’ll be fine. I’m just—”

losing my mind

“—jumpy, that’s all. Going through one of those weird phases.”

He offered his hand, and she took it, squeezing hard and enjoying when he squeezed back. They strolled through the gift shop and ate ice cream. It almost felt like being a normal couple.

Normal.

Whatever the hell that was.

When they picked up the Mustang an hour later, something akin to relief washed over her. She found herself bending down to look at the ground underneath the car.

Matthias watched her with an amused expression. “What are you doing?”

She looked at him as she straightened. “I don’t know.” That’s what worried her—she didn’t.

“That’s not a comfort, love.” He held the passenger door open for her.

Without any ability to stop it, the words tumbled from her mouth. “Did they use synthetic oil?”

What the fuck? Great, let’s hope I don’t start swearing uncontrollably.

Matthias raised an eyebrow, but nodded. “Yes. I had them use the brand Rafe always used. Why?”

Yet another uncontrollable verbal tic. “Did they put on a new drain plug washer?” She clapped a hand to her mouth. What the fuck?

Matthias froze. “What?”

Taz swallowed hard and forced the words out, this time through her fingers still over her mouth. “A drain plug washer?”

The half smile curled his lips. “Yes, I made sure they did. Rafe was always adamant about that. It’s the least I could do for him.”

The mental drumming finally dissipated, and she relaxed during the drive into Cody.

The mysterious voice didn’t return. Neither did the uncontrollable verbal tics. Alone with Matthias, they took their time retracing her route from Cody, back through the Bighorn Mountains to I-90.

“I must admit I’m impressed,” he said.

“Why?” She fought the urge to tell him to go faster. Matthias held it at a comfortable seventy-five on the interstate. She preferred eighty, at least. The powerful pony was more than capable of it.

“How quickly you made it out here.” Their fingers were laced together, and he brought her hand to his lips, kissing it. “I’m not angry. Just please don’t ever run off like that again. If you need time alone, I will always give it to you.”

“Being followed by guards isn’t time alone, Matthias.”

He glanced at her before returning his eyes to the road. “Taz, we had no idea where you were, where you were going. I’m not saying I would have had people tailing you—”

“Bullshit.”

He looked at her again and spotted her knowing smile.

“Okay, so I would have had you followed. Tim had people watching over you from the time you entered Yellowstone and you weren’t aware of it.” Now wasn’t the time to mention the daily security detail back home.

“What?”

He nodded. “He told you we have operatives all over the park. Once he figured out where you were going, he was prepared.”

She looked out the passenger window. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

“We know. We don’t want to make you feel like that, either.” He squeezed her hand. “I love you, and I’m damn sure not letting anyone take you away from me now that we’re together. If you need time alone, ask for it. I’ll readily give it, as much as you want.”

“I want to go away for a month, alone.”

“Done.”

She turned back to him, studying his face. “I was kidding.”

“I wasn’t.”

She frowned. “You mean you’d let me up and leave, alone, for a whole month, no questions asked?”

“I’m not saying I wouldn’t miss you. And yes, I would take precautions for your safety. If what makes you happy would be to leave for a month, then I will give it to you.” He pulled over to the shoulder. Fortunately the interstate wasn’t that busy in this desolate part of the country.

He turned to her and removed his sunglasses so she could see his eyes. “Taz, I love you. Whatever I must do to show you, to prove to you that I will do anything for you, I will do it. If you ask for time alone, I will give it. I will follow you to the ends of the earth if you ask. I will die and kill for you.”

She finally removed Rafe’s sunglasses. “Why?”

“Why what, cara?”

“Why do you love me like that?”

He touched his forehead to hers, nuzzling her with his nose. “The heart knows what it knows. And the soul always comes home.” He kissed her, and before she could get too into it and drag him into the backseat, he sat up and caressed her cheek. “Just know that I willingly love you, Taz. Not because I’m under a spell, not because I’m forced to.” He put his sunglasses on and put the car in gear and drove as she studied his profile.

The long drive gave them plenty of time to talk. “What’s the deal with Murry?” she asked.

“Why?”

“He told me to ask you.”

Matthias smiled. “Murry is interesting, to say the least.”

“How about saying more than the least?”

“He’s a familiar.”

“Which tells me bubkis. Isn’t that a witch thing or something?”

“According to popular lore, yes. Animals as spirits isn’t an idea limited to witches. It’s a popular theme in Native American and other cultures, too.”

“Where did he come from?”

She realized he didn’t want to answer.

“Matthias?” she gently prompted.

“Rafe gave him to me. He belonged to Cassandra.”

She closed her eyes and fought a wave of dizzying grief, felt it pass. “Why didn’t he keep him?” she whispered.

“Murry was too painful a reminder.”

Now, it seemed, he was again.

“You know, you keep telling me what we are isn’t anything supernatural, yet I keep finding out about things like daemon pulverem and familiars and all this other crap, which isn’t exactly textbook Science 101 material.”

“Considering scientists can’t even unravel the origins of the universe yet, does it truly surprise you to know there are things that defy current scientific explanations? There are yogis who can control their body temperature through meditation. Animals hibernate for winter in a form of suspended animation without eating or drinking. Yet awake, they would die if they went several days without water. There are cicadas that only emerge once every seventeen years. There are things science hasn’t even discovered, much less begun to figure out.”

“But a cat who’s over four hundred years old? You expect me to believe that?”

“Did you ever expect to believe you’re a vampire?”

He had her there.

“How did he live so long?”

Matthias shrugged. “He’s like an antidemon, a spirit that could take whatever form he chose, and he chose the one you see. He’s not really a cat, he just looks like one.”

“Why does he stay at the office?”

“It’s where he chooses to be. He is the best early-warning system I could ever ask for.”

True. If it wasn’t for Murry, the daemon pulverem would have killed her.

“That’s why we had to move from the LA office in the first place,” Matthias continued. “He discovered our security team was infiltrated.”

They stopped for the night in St. Louis. As much as Taz wanted to get home, she wanted a shower and a soft bed even more.

Cuddling up to Matthias felt right, there was no denying. She’d get to spend hundreds of years with this man?

She was a lucky woman.

“There are so many places I want to take you, Taz,” he whispered, kissing her. “So many places I’ve been that I wished I had a soul mate to share them with.”

“Like where?”

He nuzzled her neck. “Key West, for starters. I’d love to watch the sunset at Mallory Square with you. I’d love to dive with the stingrays off Grand Cayman with you, take you on a tour of places I’ve been throughout my life. Britain, Ireland, Europe.”

“I’ll follow you anywhere, Matthias.”

They lay quietly for a few minutes. He thought she might be drifting off to sleep when she spoke again. “What are the Others?”

“That’s hard to say. We don’t know a lot about them, unfortunately.”

“My dad said they’re sort of like werewolves.” The glimpse she’d had of the severed head of the one that nearly killed Matthias had churned her stomach.

“Yes and no. They were the origin of the myth, those like them. They’re also the Yeti and Bigfoot and the Swamp Ape and all those kinds of legends.”

“Chupacabra?”

“That, too. Anything that’s a bipedal unidentified thing, it’s most likely where a group of Others have one of their bases.”

“Can they really change how they look?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Supposedly they can, but who knows if that’s true or not? We don’t know for sure. All I know is they don’t call themselves ‘Others,’ that’s just a label we gave them eons ago to distinguish them from us and from humans. They call themselves ‘lycans.’”

She thought about it. “Lycanthropes?”

He nodded. “Different from shape-shifters. The lycans are tightly knit. Unfortunately, we don’t know as much about them as we’d like.”

“You were ready when that one attacked me at my house that night.”

“I was ready for whatever was going to attack. I thought it was another daemon pulverem, at first. I didn’t know it was an Other until we got inside.”

“Okay, while we’re on the subject, what’s with the sword?” She noticed he didn’t have it with him.

“It’s a very old relic. Unfortunately I don’t know a lot about it, it’s that old. It’s been passed down from generation to generation, and if you want to destroy a daemon pulverem—”

“Or behead a lycan,” she smiled.

“Yes,” he agreed, “or that. It’s the best thing to use. You can destroy a daemon pulverem other ways, but the sword has a special property that dissolves a daemon pulverem’s bond with its form.”

“But doesn’t kill a daemon pulverem?”

“No. Like I told you, the energy isn’t destroyed, it just dissolves the bond, the form the body has. The creature can reform another body and come back, but it takes a while.”

“Can you kill its energy?”

“Yes, but it involves rituals that I have no idea how to perform.”

“Who does?”

“Ra—” He stopped.

“Rafe?” she finished.

He nodded. “He studied that, knew a lot about it. Which is another reason he was helping us, and was going to help train you.”

“Oh.”

Matthias’ voice softened. “He was incredibly well versed in ‘arcane’ knowledge. Much of it learned while he was with Cassandra. She was very skilled with the knowledge and lore available to her at the time.”

Taz sensed there was more behind his words than he let on, but she let it go.

Matthias continued. “Rafe took that knowledge and built upon it. He had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge.”

“He diverted his energy after she died?”

Matthias no longer met her gaze. “Yes. He also spent centuries perfecting his skills and control. Just because a vampire has powers doesn’t mean they’re strong, especially if they can’t focus. He was a master at that, put many who were much more powerful than him to shame. There will never be another like him.”

Matthias was asleep, but Taz knew there was no rest for her yet. That skin-crawling feeling had returned, a nagging thought drumming constantly. Rafael’s laptop bag sat by the desk.

Might as well.

She took a deep breath and opened Rafael’s e-mail. Taz was used to getting dozens, if not hundreds, of e-mails a day. His e-mail hadn’t been checked since before his death, and only twenty downloaded.

Two were spam. Seventeen were newsletters, announcements, general stuff from e-mail lists he was on.

Delete.

The last was from a woman, dated just that morning. Taz fought the unexpected surge of jealousy, knowing full well Rafe had a life outside of the one day they shared together. She wasn’t exactly in a position to be jealous.

Rafael, I haven’t heard from you in a couple of weeks. I left you some messages, but you haven’t called me back. Are you mad at me? Give me a call, I’m worried. Luv ya!—Trish.

Trish, hmm?

A ghostly chuckle rumbled through her brain. Wonderful, just what I need, to have that back now. The voice had been quiet ever since the oil change incident.

The silence had been blissful.

Taz found Rafael’s cell phone in the laptop bag and turned it on. Sure enough, there were several voice mails. Taz played them.

The girl sounded younger than her. She also sounded worried, but it was hard to tell by the tone and content of the messages if she was more than a friend. Her cell number showed up on the outgoing call logs as Trish. When Taz matched the number to the incoming list, she found quite a few.

Taz felt bad. Obviously, the girl had no idea what happened. Logging into the corporate VPN, she found the information she needed, punched the number into her cell phone, and went into the bathroom before hitting send.

He answered on the second ring. “Davidson.”

“It’s Anastazia Proctor.”

“Yes ma’am. What can I do for you?”

“I’m sorry it’s late, but I need a favor.” She detailed what she wanted and read him the cell number from Rafael’s phone.

“Can you hold on a moment? I’ll get it for you.”

“Thanks.” Taz waited several minutes, checking to make sure the call didn’t drop. He finally came back on the line. “I’ve got it. Patricia Nunez…” and read off an Atlanta address. Taz wrote it down on the hotel notepad she’d brought in with her.

“Thanks, Davidson.”

“Anytime, ma’am.”

She hung up. It was too late to call her tonight.

Then again, this wasn’t exactly the kind of news you wanted to drop on someone over the phone. They would be in Atlanta late tomorrow. She could call the girl and try to meet with her there, tell her face-to-face.

“Want to see the competition?” Crap, the voice was back, and stronger than ever.

Oh, God, would that please, shut the hell UP!

Another ghostly chuckle.

This would drive her crazy if it continued. Eventually she’d break down and tell Matthias it was still happening. Keeping a barrier around it was taking a major toll, and she hated keeping secrets from him.

She just couldn’t bring herself to tell him the whole truth, even though she suspected he knew more than he was letting on. Sparing her the embarrassment of telling her she was crazy, perhaps?

When she told Matthias about Trish the next morning, he frowned. “We can call her, Taz. We don’t need to stop by.”

She let her anger take over. “What the fuck? Matthias, she was dating him. You can’t drop a bomb on her like that, you insensitive male bastard!”

After a few moments, he nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

Taz sighed and put her arms around him. “We’ve been dating for what, a few weeks now, and you’ve seen me at my worst. Why aren’t you running and screaming yet?”

A sly smile teased his lips and started the familiar tingle between her legs. “Because you haven’t seen me at my worst, cara. This is one contest I know I could easily win, if I so chose.”

The girl lived in a small apartment near Turner Field, where the Braves played. She looked nervous but welcomed them in. Her apartment was clean and tidy if sparsely furnished. Maybe in her early twenties, Taz got the feeling she was a college student, or recently graduated.

“Can I get you anything to drink?” Trish asked. “I don’t have much, just water and Coke, but you’re welcomed to it.”

Taz shook her head. “No, thank you. Can we sit and talk for a few minutes?”

The girl swallowed and nervously nodded. Taz sensed the girl knew something was seriously wrong but was trying to talk herself into believing the best.

Trish sat in a chair by the end of the couch while Taz took the end closest to her. Taz reached over, took her hand, and looked the girl in the eyes.

“I’m afraid we have some bad news about Rafael Collins.”

The girl’s eyes widened. Taz wasn’t trying to take control and fought the urge to smooth this over for her. Trish needed to feel her grief, not have it masked.

“What happened?”

Matthias stayed silent and let Taz take point. “He had a heart attack. He came out to Yellowstone National Park for a meeting with us and some business associates. I’m so sorry, but he died.”

Trish didn’t need to know Rafael was suffocated by another vampire not too long after Taz had played happy hooker succubus with his head because she was pissed at Matthias.

Trish also didn’t need to know how much Taz loved him.

The girl froze, trying to process the information, then her tears fell. “He’s dead?”

“I’m so sorry.” I feel like I killed him, but you don’t need to know that, either.

“It’s not your fault, Taz baby!”

God, not NOW! Taz wanted to scream, and the only thing that kept her from doing so was that Matthias and Trish sat right there. Taz wanted to reach into her brain and rip the source out. She was having a hard enough time keeping it together.

The girl pulled away, hugging herself. “Dead?” she whispered.

Taz nodded. The girl looked to Matthias, who also nodded but remained silent. He knew he was on Taz’s short shit list over suggesting they call instead of stopping, and he didn’t dare enrage her.

Trish shook her head. “I talked to him the night before he left. He said we’d get together when he got back…” She started sobbing.

Taz lost the inner battle not to ask the question. “Were the two of you close?”

The girl didn’t look up. “I wanted to be. We weren’t…you know. We hadn’t. He wouldn’t, said he wanted to get to know me better first. We’d been out on a few dates, only knew each other a few weeks.” She finally looked up at Taz. “He just had this really sweet, playful side, you know?”

Taz knew. All too well. Seeing this girl’s grief stirred her own, and it was sheer will holding her own tears in check. They stayed a little longer, then Taz handed Trish a business card. “If you want to talk, give me a call, okay?”

Trish nodded, still stunned. Taz knew the girl would cry herself to sleep that night.

Matthias wanted to drive but Taz withheld the keys. “I need to do this. I need the focus.”

“Okay.” Without further discussion he went to the passenger side. He was learning to take his cues from her.

Taz adjusted the seat, the mirrors, and tried to steady her shaking fingers as she hooked her seat belt. She didn’t want Matthias seeing how rattled she was, how close to her own breakdown.

It didn’t get any easier, even after her own grief.

They arrived home after midnight. Matthias offered to carry the laptop case, but Taz shrugged him off.

“No, I’ve got it.” She also had Rafe’s phone and MP3 player in there, and she wasn’t letting them out of her control. She needed more time to deal, and she still wanted to know why the playlist mysteriously appeared.

“All right.” He took their bags, leaving the photo albums and other things until morning. He followed her up to their room and she put the laptop case on the floor on her side of the bed. She’d deal with it tomorrow. For tonight, she needed to sleep.

“You don’t really want to sleep, do you, Taz baby?”

She froze. The voice had remained mostly silent on the way home from Atlanta.

It had to be the guilt. That was it. Her subconscious was adding Rafael’s voice to her own guilt. It didn’t matter that everyone else kept telling her it wasn’t her fault.

“That’s because it’s not your fault.”

She closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and tried counting backward from ten.

It didn’t return.

She took a shower while Matthias was downstairs talking with her dad and Albert. She wanted to stay awake until he returned, but by the time she heard their door open she was nearly asleep. She felt him kiss her cheek before he slipped his arm around her waist and spooned against her back.

“I love you, Taz,” he whispered.

She smiled. “I love you, too, Matthias,” she mumbled.

As she drifted off to sleep, the voice chimed in one last time. “That makes two of us, Taz baby.”

Matthias was asleep upstairs when Taz went down for breakfast the next morning. Albert held a small box in his hand. “This came while you were gone.”

She took it, looked at it, and nodded. “Thank you.” She placed it in her lap, out of sight under the table.

Albert hesitated for a moment before realizing she wasn’t volunteering any information, and left the room. After finishing her meal, she took it upstairs to their bedroom. Matthias was in the bathroom. Taz hid the box in a drawer. She didn’t want Matthias to see it. Not that it mattered, she supposed, because eventually he’d see her wearing it, but there were some things she needed to do privately to deal with her grief.

It was so late when they returned she didn’t ask about Rafe’s ashes. But when she walked through the living room, she spotted the urn sitting on the mantel. How she’d missed it earlier was a mystery.

She walked over to it, touched it, and closed her eyes.

I won’t cry. I will not cry.

She finally took her shower.

The Mustang needed another oil change. Thumbing through the phone book, Taz found a local oil change place that could fit her in.

“Don’t do that, goddammit! Do it yourself.”

She closed her eyes, willing the voice to shut up. She didn’t feel like changing the oil. Besides, she didn’t have any tools.

“You’ve got my tools.”

This was too much. The voice was gaining strength and clarity in her brain. Beating herself unconscious with the phone book was a tempting option.

Albert chose that moment to walk in, looking slightly uncomfortable. “Taz, can I talk to you for a moment?”

She sat up. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. I need to show you something.” She followed him out to the separate garage where he opened one of the bays. Everything from Rafe’s garage was there, arranged as it had been at the condo. Even cabinets from the wall were hung in nearly the same places. “I had the movers take detailed pictures and measurements before they brought everything down so we could arrange it as closely as possible. Matthias said you’d want it.”

She felt her tears fall and threw her arms around Albert. “Thank you,” she whispered.

He hugged her back. “It’s quite all right, love.” He kept his arm around her. “Rafe was, as I’m sure you guessed, quite fond of his cars. He loved working on Matthias’ Mustang. He’s the one who took care of yours, too, before Matthias gave it to you. Rafe came down several times a month. When he was here, he would check it out, start it, drive it for a few minutes to make sure it was running fine, did the oil changes.”

Her tears fell and she didn’t care. Rafe took care of her car? Yet another reason to cherish it beyond the fact that it once belong to her father.

“Why doesn’t Matthias like to work on cars?”

Albert shrugged. “He’s handy. He can, but he doesn’t enjoy it the way Rafe did. I remember when cars first came out.” He looked at Taz and laughed. “Oh God, that sounds horrible, doesn’t it?”

She smiled. “Go ahead.”

“Rafael loved horseless carriages. He was positively fascinated by them. I’m sure a psychiatrist would say he transferred his energy into his cars to avoid relationships. Maybe that’s true. I remember a period several decades ago where he didn’t date at all for a couple of years, too interested in learning about cars and working on them. Eventually he settled down, and when he’d get a car he’d, well, as you see from his Mustang, bigger, better, faster.”

“He was a racer?”

“Not really, surprisingly. Like you, he enjoyed going fast on the interstate. I think one reason he loved coming to visit was because it afforded him time to be alone in the car on the highway with his foot to the floor for hours on end.”

“I can understand that.” She did her best thinking in the car.

“Bastard’s not so bad after all.”

Taz stiffened. That snippet from her phantom voice sounded the clearest since Yellowstone.

She realized she had to know. “Albert, what was going on between you and Rafe?”

Albert’s turn to tense. He pulled away from her. “We had our differences of opinion over the years. It’s not that we didn’t like each other—”

“Bullshit!” snorted the phantom voice.

“—but we tended to butt heads from time to time. Personality differences.”

“Why?”

Albert met her eyes. She felt his mental barrier strengthen. “It doesn’t matter anymore, Taz. Truly.” She would never force him to tell, and he knew it.

“Okay.” She needed to lighten the subject. “I need to get the oil changed in the GT—”

“Goddammit, Taz, do it yourself!”

“—but do you know a good place to have it done?” She hoped she didn’t wince when the voice chimed in. Fuck, that would drive her over the edge if nothing else did.

Albert eyed her carefully. “Are you all right, dear? You look a little peaked.”

“I’m tired.”

Her dad walked up, looked inside the garage, and nodded. “I’m sure he would have approved.”

Taz gritted her teeth, preparing for another onslaught from the phantom voice. “I need to get the oil changed—”

“No, listen to me—”

Tim patted her on the back. “I’ll do it for you, sweetheart.”

The voice shut up. The sudden silence startled her, almost as deafening as the voice.

She blinked in surprise. “Really?”

“Of course. I don’t mind. Rafe never let a shop touch his cars if he could do it himself. I certainly wouldn’t call myself a mechanic, but I’ve changed the oil enough over the years, I don’t think I’ll bollocks it up.”

No word from the voice, and she took a deep, relieved breath. “Okay. Thanks, Dad.” She hugged him and handed him the keys.

One problem solved. The voice left her alone for the rest of the day.